Privy Council Chamber

Visit the Privy Council Chamber, as re-created in the style of the early years of the Confederation. This chamber was where Cabinet met to make decisions that would shape the course of Canadian history.

For more than a century, this chamber was where Cabinet met to make decisions that would shape the course of Canadian history. For most of that time, no records were kept. If these walls could talk, how might our view of that history be changed!

Great care and expense was lavished on these mouldings, with their details picked out in rich colours. The woodwork in the room is also very fine, with special attention to the doorframes. The walls are finished with gold-stencilled wallpaper, a subtle but regal pattern. The gasolier, the bookshelves, the window hangings are all of the finest quality and far more ornate than anything else in the building.

The growth of Cabinet over time caused several changes to the room, but happily most of these were not drastic. A larger, round table was introduced, and the gasolier was changed to provide better light. The vibrant colours preferred by the Victorians were covered with white paint, and much of the clutter was removed. Still, the historic character of the chamber survived to remind the Cabinet of its origins.

During the 1920s, a proposal was considered to enlarge the chamber by removing the west wall, but the plan was never carried out. When Cabinet finally burst its seams and moved to the Centre Block, the opportunity arose to restore the Privy Council Chamber to its former glory. Painstaking research was carried out using historic photographs, paint sampling and archival documents to determine the correct colours and finishes, fabrics and materials. Many items still in the chamber had been there since 1866, and some might have been brought from Quebec when the government moved to the new capital. Although some lost items had to be reproduced, every effort was made to recreate an accurate impression of the room as it was in 1872.